President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party
has signed a co-operation deal with Italy’s far-right Lega Nord,
deepening Russia’s ties with Europe’s populist movements. The deal marks the Kremlin’s latest
attempt to develop formal links with populist groups ahead of elections
this year in which the right is set to make gains.
United Russia, the main pro-Kremlin party, signed a similar agreement
late last year with the far-right Freedom party of Austria, whose leader
Heinz-Christian Strache was narrowly defeated in December’s
presidential election. The leader of Germany’s anti-immigration
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Frauke Petry, also held talks with
United Russia’s Viacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Duma, the lower house
of parliament, during a visit to Russia last month.
Moscow officials have hailed the rise of anti-establishment populist
parties in Europe and Donald Trump’s victory in the US as signs that
western governments will fail in their attempts to isolate Mr Putin’s
regime following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Gideon Rachman
Le Pen, Trump and the Atlantic counter-revolution
The two leaders share much, including nationalism, populism and
protectionism
Common cause in a conservative backlash against liberal values and
criticism of the EU’s handling of the migrant crisis have allowed Moscow
to build good relationships with European far-right parties including
France’s National Front, Hungary’s Jobbik and Italy’s Lega Nord, or
Northern League.
Many of those parties approved of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and sent
monitors who praised glaringly flawed elections in both Crimea and
rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
Although it is unclear what the Lega Nord agreement will entail, Sergei
Zheleznyak, deputy Duma speaker, touted Russia’s willingness to lead a
global anti-terror coalition alongside western nations as a priority for
the Kremlin.
“Russia is [Europe’s] neighbour,” Mr Zheleznyak said in a statement. “So
it’s particularly strange that Europe isn’t making use of the unique
experience fighting terrorism that we’ve built up in our country.
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Matteo Salvini, Lega Nord chairman, said his anti-immigration and
anti-euro party would work “so that Italy has real parliamentary
elections, just as open as in your country [Russia]”.
The two parties will also develop ties in the Council of Europe, the
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, and promote
business links.
Members of Lega Nord made up the bulk of an Italian delegation that
visited Crimea in October, prompting protests from Ukraine. Claudio
D’Amico, a senior Lega Nord member, was one of several European
far-right politicians who monitored the rubber-stamp referendum that
followed Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.
The Netherlands, France and Germany will all hold general elections this
year, with far-right parties expected to perform strongly.